Bobcats Split in Season Opening Matches

Jan 17, 2009

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - Outside hitter Colin Kelly led the
Lees-McRae Bobcats to a split in their opening matches of the 2009
season with win over Grand Canyon and a loss to Mount Olive. Both
matches went to five sets.

Lees-McRae opened the day with a 3-2 (30-12, 23-30, 28-30,
30-25, 15-12) win over Grand Canyon.

Kelly led the Bobcats with 20 kills, while Robert Ritchie tallied
14 digs. Juan Ramirez chipped in with 53 assists, and Ryan Black
had 12 kills and six blocks.

The Trojans went up 2-0 on a Guerci kill. Lees-McRae (1-1) stayed
within striking distance and tied the score up at 19 on a kill from
Black and going up 20-19 on Chad Mercado's kill. Lanier's kill tied
the score up at 20, and Penate's kill put the Trojans up 26-25 to
stay.

Lees-McRae took an early lead on a kill from Kelly, but the Trojans
held in there, pulling within one at 14-15 on kill and a block from
Carroll. Kills from Lanier tied the score up at 21 and a clutch
kills from Garcia and Penate gave the Trojans set point, but
Lees-McRae weathered the storm to take the set.

The Bobcats opened up the set on a 6-0 run that was doused by
Hoekstra's fake-assist kill. A pair of kills by Lanier held the
lead to five, but that's as close as it got as kills from Black and
Kelly propelled Lees-McRae to win the set.

Lees-McRae jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but Mount Olive rallied back
to tie the set at six on Penate's kill. The lead switched back and
forth as the Trojans went up 13-11 on a Guerci kill but the Bobcats
went on a 4-0 run to take the lead 15-13. Garcia's two kills put
Mount Olive up 21-20 to force a fifth set.

Mount Olive went down early as Kelly's kill gave the Bobcats a 1-0
lead. Then the Trojans came charging as a double block from Garcia
and Carroll sparked an 8-2 run, capped off by a diving dig by
Garcia that kept play alive leading to a solo block from Hoekstra
to put Mount Olive up 12-4. Lees-McRae didn't give up, going on a
4-0 run but the Trojans ended the match as the Bobcats tried to
block a Trojan kill attempt, which rolled across the net landing
out of bounds on Lees-McRae.